Met Ben when he was coaching at ASU @ the Pac 10s in Corvallis, OR 2011, w my 8yo son, and he was literally the coolest guy I've ever met. Sat down and talked to my son and I for several minutes talking wrestling. He had a lot of sport psych insight and competition insight. Really good dude. I'll wait for your Masvidal, Jake Paul, Pendleton comments... don't care. Was out-of-his-way-nice to my son and I when he didn't have to be. I'll take it
he looked pretty happy with his wife after getting ko'd by Jake (not conspiracy theorist, just further evidence of Ben not caring to prepare sufficiently for the Paul fight).
@@redsnflr I still believe he took a dive for the paycheck, and I don't blame him. He should enjoy a but of money for all of the unpaid work he basically did for the sport of wrestling.
IMO the freestyle wrestling goat is Buvaisar Saitiev, 3x Olympic Gold medalist and 6x world champ at 74kg. There is plenty of footage and Saitiev has that authentic savvy russian style, he's awesome to watch, theres lots of footage.
For me too is Buvaisar Saitiev the king of wrestling no doubt. And 74 kg is the most difficult division, it is where strength, speed and agility are perfectly matched
They are so sneaky good at getting cheap exposures in scrambles and just hitting weird sneaky stuff. I'm calling it sneaky but in reality you're correct it's just savvy wrestling. That's why I love Taylor so much he like embodies the attack attack attack of the American style.
I'll never believe that Russians at some point don't dope in there careers once the whole Russian scandal came out last Olympics. I'm sorry but that country just fucked themselves in sports in most people's eyes for a long time
For me Buvaisar Saitiev is the king of wrestling no doubt. And 74 kg is the most difficult and fierce division, it is where strength, speed and agility are perfectly matched
Heavyweight always have the worst wrestlers. Least skilled division. And nobody really does Greco Roman. Those two factors have to be taken into consideration when talking about greatest wrestlers
I disagree, i think B Saitiev is the GOAT, he was in a weight class that had the most people, he was a champion forever, and had proven himself over, and over again
If you watch Satiev you see such a variety of scoring techniques that you just don't see from most guys. He could arm throw, inside trip, fireman's carry, leg lace, gut wrench, single leg, high crotch, slide by, body lock, crotch lock, judo throws, etc......
@@samuelgardner5939 couldn’t have said it better myself, every wrestler has a go to, saitiev could score on anyone from anywhere, he was truly dangerous from every position and more importantly he was comfortable
I love "Funky Ben"... but manipulating the timeline, and restricting the wrestling styles to freestyle & folk-style is a kind of lame way of avoiding the question. The greatest of all wrestlers is 100% Aleksandr Karelin.
LOTS of Buvaisar Saitiev footage. Look it up. Technically the cleanest wrestler. His brother was even better but went up in weight. At 74kg I think Adam would've been even better than his older brother.
Exactly why any UFC athlete tested by USADA “United States Anti Doping Agency” that lives outside the US is doping. Literally every Brazilian fighter is juiced to the gills
@@xboxgamerhr Has more to do with American style training, which is much more focused on strength and conditioning. Eastern European is much more focused on technique.
@@jackjack4412 different sport with different rules, in Greco you are not allowed to use your legs or to grab your opponents legs, meaning the techniques are completely different
It doesn't really help that Kyle Snyder is really a folkstyle wrestler (which is what he did throughout most of his life) and has to compete in freestyle. I mean his last match vs Sadulaev was kind of BS. He got called for stalling multiple times and arguably he was more active than Sadulaev. I have never seen Sadulaev attempt a shot on Kyle. All he does is wait for Kyle to attempt a shot or something then does a gut wrench to score (essentially). Sadulaev wrestles extremely defensively and has no real takedown skills besides a toss by and a duck under. It's very frustrating to watch.
but watch new they fight snyder use same tactic but sadulaev beata him pretty badly 6.0 3-1 ..1 lucky win for snyder..so no excusee..just admit dagestn the best
Just putting it out there, would love to see a Khabib and Ben wrestling match. I believe Khabib is best wrestler on planet although Ben is super good so might be a challenging bout.
Dudes, Khabib started wrestling from age 4 I think? His father was a wrestling coach so to this he was a part time wrestler is super short sighted. The muscle memory he would have built would far outway most people due to age started. His style of wrestling will differ a bit although I believe it would be very competitive with Ben. My opinion though and to each his own.
@@stonedphilosopherza4915 he has never won a meaningful competition in wrestling as an adult but he’s suppose to be the best on the planet 😂. His fan boys are so annoying.
@@stonedphilosopherza4915 People underrate his hands for MMA. Things are different when you take out that element. Depends heavily on the ruleset who would win with Askren.
Mijain Lopez is the best wrestler ever with no doubt. 5 gold medals in a row. Beijin 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokio 2020 and Paris 2024. No one has even got close to that.
What about Ikarus? Everything is simple. In high level sports EVERYONE does PEDs, and Americans probably more than anyone. But. Who does and who doesn't "get caught" - that's decided by people with money. And that's Americans.
Guys, I don't know much about wrestling so could you guys answer this question; Who do you think is the GOAT? Who is also your top 5 GOATs in wrestling.
you have to seperate the styles of wrestling, in Greco its Aleksander Karelin decisively, there is pretty much no close no 2, hes also in accomplishments arguably the GOAT overall in wrestling. Folkstyle is only done in America but is very SImilar to Freestyle which is worldwide, usually the American freestyle competitors are originally folkstyle. the top 3 american wrestlers are Cael Sanderson, John Smith and Dan Gable, some would also say Jordan Burroughs. who you think should be no 1 between those is really subjective, personally i have Sanderson as no 1. Freestyle is what the rest of the world does, the top 3 there are Buvaisar Saitiev, Abdulrashid Sadulaev and Alexander Medved, Medved is probably no 1 in accomplishments but theres no footage so most people dont put him at no 1. between Saitiev and Sadulaev is again subjective, I have Saitiev at no 1. so from those names you can research about them and pick your GOATS. for me its Karelin for greco, Sanderson for Folkstyle and Saitiev for Freestyle. hope that was helpful, have a good day.
@@aminecougar6160 I live in south part of Russia too and I have a lot of friends from there. They have never said that Dagestan is not Russia. There are a lot of nationalities here and every has his native language but it doesn’t mean that it’s not part of a country
Remember when this tomato can thought he could beat a prime GSP hahahahahahahaha bruhhhh he would have taken your soul with such ease it woulda looked like Gaethje vs Tony a one sided soul snatching that would change your life
Ben was at the end of his career when he signed to the UFC after multiple surgeries and I'm not even a big fan of this guy but his wrestling was unreal in his prime he was so dominant and it's a fight anything can happen to say a GSP fight would've been a one sided soul snatching just shows your casual side lmao do you remember when Matt Serra beat the fuck out of GSP and won the belt? Lol that fight right there shows anyone can lose on any given day
Met Ben when he was coaching at ASU @ the Pac 10s in Corvallis, OR 2011, w my 8yo son, and he was literally the coolest guy I've ever met. Sat down and talked to my son and I for several minutes talking wrestling. He had a lot of sport psych insight and competition insight. Really good dude. I'll wait for your Masvidal, Jake Paul, Pendleton comments... don't care. Was out-of-his-way-nice to my son and I when he didn't have to be. I'll take it
Ben changed the folkstyle game, legend in the folkstyle world.
respect!!!
I want to see a rematch with Madvisdal, honestly believe Ben beats him if given another chance
Ben looks physically and mentally in a good place right now. I’m happy for him.
he looked pretty happy with his wife after getting ko'd by Jake (not conspiracy theorist, just further evidence of Ben not caring to prepare sufficiently for the Paul fight).
@@redsnflr that paycheck made him hzppy
@@redsnflr I still believe he took a dive for the paycheck, and I don't blame him. He should enjoy a but of money for all of the unpaid work he basically did for the sport of wrestling.
@@lapermits6193 he didnt take a dive he just has trash standup and the guy is old with a hip injury tf did you expect
@@Apache-t9o Then what was Tyrone Woodley/Ben Aksren's friend's excuse?
IMO the freestyle wrestling goat is Buvaisar Saitiev, 3x Olympic Gold medalist and 6x world champ at 74kg. There is plenty of footage and Saitiev has that authentic savvy russian style, he's awesome to watch, theres lots of footage.
I agree 100%
He is very enjoyable to watch and the goat I agree with you
Also agree 100%. He is the greatest.
For me too is Buvaisar Saitiev the king of wrestling no doubt. And 74 kg is the most difficult division, it is where strength, speed and agility are perfectly matched
They are so sneaky good at getting cheap exposures in scrambles and just hitting weird sneaky stuff. I'm calling it sneaky but in reality you're correct it's just savvy wrestling. That's why I love Taylor so much he like embodies the attack attack attack of the American style.
Busaivar Saitiev for Freestyle wrestling.
Alexander Karelin for Greco-Roman wrestling.
Khabib Nurmagomedov for MMA wrestling.
I think saitiev and sadulaev are on same page
@@hamzaakbar5287 When Sadulaev reaches 11 world titles, spanning over 2 decade, then we can talk.
@@kallepikku4991 saitiev won 9 world titles, sadulaev need 2 more titles to match him. He is 7 now and need 2 more
@@kallepikku4991 also tank moving division and he's beating them all and he's young
Greco Roman is Mijain Lopez
Aleksandr Karelin 6foot 5 285 pounds. 3 olympic champion, 9 world champion, 12 european champion.
Undefeated in 13 years
I came here to ask the same question, is Karelin not the GOAT?
Hulk Hogan held the belt more times and longer.
@@edt7780 Karelin wrestled Greco.
@@edt7780 in the beginning of the vid they narrowed it down to folkstyle and freestyle...
I'll never believe that Russians at some point don't dope in there careers once the whole Russian scandal came out last Olympics. I'm sorry but that country just fucked themselves in sports in most people's eyes for a long time
Askren looks like he's in really good shape here
You can tell his confidence is on bladt
Blast
@@robertconklin3850 My lad you can edit your comment 😂 But l agree he seems well
I mean, he needed a silly amount of surgeries before he signed with the UFC
TRT Askren? Legend has it he only comes out after retirement… a true paradox that breaks the space time continuum
🤣🤣
Thanks for bringing on guys like Ben!
Ben does look like he's getting back in shape
For me Buvaisar Saitiev is the king of wrestling no doubt. And 74 kg is the most difficult and fierce division, it is where strength, speed and agility are perfectly matched
Bret "The Hitman" Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be.
CM Punk: Best in the world 😂😂
Karelin easily. Undefeated for 13 years, didn't give up a single point for 10 years! 6'5 285...monster.
Heavyweight always have the worst wrestlers. Least skilled division. And nobody really does Greco Roman. Those two factors have to be taken into consideration when talking about greatest wrestlers
they are talking only folkstyle and freestyle, Karelin was Greco, but overall wrestling yeah hes the GOAT and its not very close
Like american athletes dont dope. Gimme a break.
They do, but no movies are made about it, and if they are made, nobody cares. It's about who has more money, simple as that.
@@nettlecarrier8259 100%
Karelin is the greatest of all time....Period!
Freestyle??? They are talking about freestyle wrestling
They were talking about the greatest freestyle wrestler. Also, Mijaín has surpassed Karelin.
@@DaveTheDopeFiend Greco competition is a joke today
Saitiev is
@@anonymanonym6236the only joke is your comment
They signed CM Punk 0-0 in the modern era 😂
I believe they signed bilyal before. I may be wrong
I'm sorry did I just watch a conversation on wrestling without a single Iranian mentioned?
Yes And no Greco
I disagree, i think B Saitiev is the GOAT, he was in a weight class that had the most people, he was a champion forever, and had proven himself over, and over again
If you watch Satiev you see such a variety of scoring techniques that you just don't see from most guys. He could arm throw, inside trip, fireman's carry, leg lace, gut wrench, single leg, high crotch, slide by, body lock, crotch lock, judo throws, etc......
@@samuelgardner5939 couldn’t have said it better myself, every wrestler has a go to, saitiev could score on anyone from anywhere, he was truly dangerous from every position and more importantly he was comfortable
Why nobody talk about Medved ?
There is a reason why everyone back then thought Karelin was made in a soviet lab lmao. Best ever no doubt. Dude was force of nature.
I get Lex said freestyle or folkstyle, but not a single mention of Karelin??
They're talk about freestyle not Greco Roman.
The caucuses region people some of the toughest if not toughest just plain savages respect
Aleksander Karelin is considered the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time. Went undefeated for many years.
In wrestling the eras are measured before karelin and after karelin
A lot of people say Buvisar Saitiev is the best
He was such a beast, those two brothers took gold in 3 straight Olympics
He is, generally speaking
Saitiev and Karelin and maybe some Ossteia russian guys
I love "Funky Ben"... but manipulating the timeline, and restricting the wrestling styles to freestyle & folk-style is a kind of lame way of avoiding the question.
The greatest of all wrestlers is 100% Aleksandr Karelin.
Reading the comments and nobody commenting about Mijain Lopez. WTF
Busavair satiev
Mijain Lopez🙋🏻♂️
LOTS of Buvaisar Saitiev footage. Look it up. Technically the cleanest wrestler. His brother was even better but went up in weight. At 74kg I think Adam would've been even better than his older brother.
Medved was the best by far . Is he joking who was he wrestling . 7 times World Champion .
Sadulaev won again after this interview. He's the best. I don't really need to see him do MMA, but I wouldn't mind either.
Talking great wrestlers and not mentioning Karelin ????? WTF !!
He's grecko
Didn't you hear when they say "freestyle wrestler" in the video? Btw, karelin is a Greco Roman wrestler.
Isn’t that the issue with most international combat athletes ? They are not nearly as Accessible as American athletes for drug testing
Exactly why any UFC athlete tested by USADA “United States Anti Doping Agency” that lives outside the US is doping. Literally every Brazilian fighter is juiced to the gills
@@xboxgamerhr Has more to do with American style training, which is much more focused on strength and conditioning. Eastern European is much more focused on technique.
The sport with the most steroids by far is MLB baseball. Cycling is a distant second.
Lopez from Cuba is awesome too, 5 Olympics gold in heavyweight
People saying Karelin know wrestling from TH-cam shorts
There will never be a better wrestler than Karelin
Dagestan???
sadulaev is from dagestan his record is 160 : 3
Karelin!!!! #1
Saitiev is the GOAT (Freestyle)
Hassan Yazdani
Karelin
aleksandr karelin vs jon jones
Jones by murder
How the fuck you don’t gave Karelian as the goat of any wrestling style the guy was an unbeatable monster
they specified its only Freestyle and Folkstyle, Karelin was Greco Roman
@@Suplex479 are the two styles significantly different?
@@jackjack4412 different sport with different rules, in Greco you are not allowed to use your legs or to grab your opponents legs, meaning the techniques are completely different
Mijain Lopez is the GOAT
Aleksandr Karelin is the goat
Freestyle man they are talking about freestyle
It's Karelin
It doesn't really help that Kyle Snyder is really a folkstyle wrestler (which is what he did throughout most of his life) and has to compete in freestyle. I mean his last match vs Sadulaev was kind of BS. He got called for stalling multiple times and arguably he was more active than Sadulaev. I have never seen Sadulaev attempt a shot on Kyle. All he does is wait for Kyle to attempt a shot or something then does a gut wrench to score (essentially). Sadulaev wrestles extremely defensively and has no real takedown skills besides a toss by and a duck under. It's very frustrating to watch.
but watch new they fight snyder use same tactic but sadulaev beata him pretty badly 6.0 3-1 ..1 lucky win for snyder..so no excusee..just admit dagestn the best
@@muhammadnajmi8545yea best at scrotch sniffing,at fighting its GSP or Bones jones. USA
Just putting it out there, would love to see a Khabib and Ben wrestling match. I believe Khabib is best wrestler on planet although Ben is super good so might be a challenging bout.
Best on the planet 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@brandon7733 Best on MMA he means. Pure freestyle wrestling are Sadulaev and Saitiev which are both from Khabib's country or region.
Dudes, Khabib started wrestling from age 4 I think? His father was a wrestling coach so to this he was a part time wrestler is super short sighted. The muscle memory he would have built would far outway most people due to age started. His style of wrestling will differ a bit although I believe it would be very competitive with Ben. My opinion though and to each his own.
@@stonedphilosopherza4915 he has never won a meaningful competition in wrestling as an adult but he’s suppose to be the best on the planet 😂. His fan boys are so annoying.
@@stonedphilosopherza4915 People underrate his hands for MMA. Things are different when you take out that element. Depends heavily on the ruleset who would win with Askren.
Alexander Karelin.😊
Aleksandr Karelin is the GOAT
Ben looks like he has some of those genetics.
Karelin will always be better.
MIJAIN LOPEZ OR KARELIN‼️
END OF EPISODE
Karelin is number 1, everyone else fighting for 2nd
Mijain Lopez the real goat of Greco Roman 🐐
KARELEN IS THE GREATEST WRESTLER‼️💯
Milo of Croton is the Greatest
Buivasar Saitiev or Karelin.
Satiev
just friends
Gama greatest wrestler of all time
KARELIN
Freestyle satiev 100%
Mijain Lopez is the best wrestler ever with no doubt. 5 gold medals in a row. Beijin 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokio 2020 and Paris 2024. No one has even got close to that.
@@carlbjorling6058 Aleksandr Karelin 3x olympics, 9x world champ, 13 european champ. Undefeated in 13 yrs and didnt give up a single point in 10 yrs.
@ericcruzstealth True.
What about Ikarus? Everything is simple. In high level sports EVERYONE does PEDs, and Americans probably more than anyone. But. Who does and who doesn't "get caught" - that's decided by people with money. And that's Americans.
Guys, I don't know much about wrestling so could you guys answer this question; Who do you think is the GOAT? Who is also your top 5 GOATs in wrestling.
you have to seperate the styles of wrestling, in Greco its Aleksander Karelin decisively, there is pretty much no close no 2, hes also in accomplishments arguably the GOAT overall in wrestling. Folkstyle is only done in America but is very SImilar to Freestyle which is worldwide, usually the American freestyle competitors are originally folkstyle. the top 3 american wrestlers are Cael Sanderson, John Smith and Dan Gable, some would also say Jordan Burroughs. who you think should be no 1 between those is really subjective, personally i have Sanderson as no 1. Freestyle is what the rest of the world does, the top 3 there are Buvaisar Saitiev, Abdulrashid Sadulaev and Alexander Medved, Medved is probably no 1 in accomplishments but theres no footage so most people dont put him at no 1. between Saitiev and Sadulaev is again subjective, I have Saitiev at no 1. so from those names you can research about them and pick your GOATS. for me its Karelin for greco, Sanderson for Folkstyle and Saitiev for Freestyle. hope that was helpful, have a good day.
Buivasar Saitiev is the BEST
Absolutely classic example of Lex's pro Russian bias, downplays Icarus as Western propaganda 😂
Gama Pehelwan
Sadullaev
Yea its gotta be Buyvasar Saitiev. Sadulaev is too lazy and lost to that other Dagestani last year
Best wrestler? Easily Hulk Hogan
Alexander Karelin
Easy...D Von Dudley
Who's even this clown? Talking about the best wrestlers and didn't mention Karelin but mention Medved🗿
Professor Saitiev
Alexander karelin
Alexander Karelin 🇷🇺
Dagestan is not Russia
This is the same as if you say “California is not USA”
@@marshallmathers6896 do Californian speak another language than the rest of the USA ?
@@aminecougar6160 I live in south part of Russia too and I have a lot of friends from there. They have never said that Dagestan is not Russia. There are a lot of nationalities here and every has his native language but it doesn’t mean that it’s not part of a country
These are Muslims first. Then you can say Russian or dagastan ect
@@marshallmathers6896
Mijain lopez
Khabib
First
Nah man satiev is
Huge fan of Karelin but guys come on, he was juiced to the Gills more than Ivan Drago 😂
Proof?
Remember when this tomato can thought he could beat a prime GSP hahahahahahahaha bruhhhh he would have taken your soul with such ease it woulda looked like Gaethje vs Tony a one sided soul snatching that would change your life
I don’t think you understand styles and how they affect fights.
Ben was at the end of his career when he signed to the UFC after multiple surgeries and I'm not even a big fan of this guy but his wrestling was unreal in his prime he was so dominant and it's a fight anything can happen to say a GSP fight would've been a one sided soul snatching just shows your casual side lmao do you remember when Matt Serra beat the fuck out of GSP and won the belt? Lol that fight right there shows anyone can lose on any given day
Why is Ben talking. He’s the most embarrassing fighter in history😂
KARELIN